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Lego Technic 9393 Tractor Preview

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Lego Technic 9393

Lego Technic 9393

In the words of the late Etta James; At Last.

After a long search The Lego Car Blog Elves have scooped the final unrevealed Technic set of 2012. Alongside the previously revealed 9398 Rock Crawler and 9396 Rescue Helicopter, 9393 looks somewhat less impressive, due in most part to the fact it is, well, less impressive.

But that’s not to say it isn’t a good Technic set. 9393 is probably the smallest ‘proper’ Technic set to be released in 2012, holding that position jointly with the Quad Bike that’s already in shops (we can’t really say the mini-crane and mini-Unimog are proper Technic sets whatever The Lego Company labels the boxes).

Anyhow, this tractor looks a strong starter set, bringing back proper functionality after some shaky efforts over the past few years. It appears to feature hand-of-God steering and a working rear implement, presumably operating as a power take-off from the rear wheels. What we’re less keen on is the laziness of Lego’s designers, as this is the third green Technic tractor in about 5 years. Still, if it’s a popular format then we can understand Lego’s reluctance to break with a winning idea.

The 2012 Tractor will reach stores towards the end of Summer 2012 (or August if you’re reading this and wondering what the seasonal timings are at The Lego Car Blog Towers), and should be priced at about one third of the flagships’ RRP.

Lego Technic 9396 Rescue Helicopter Preview

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Lego Technic 9396 Rescue Helicopter

Lego Technic 9396

Those sneaky Elves have done it again. What with them being small and underfed, they can get into all sorts of places. Whilst this causes all manner of problems in The Lego Car Blog office, it does mean we can get some useful spy-shots for you.

9396 is Lego’s other large Technic release for summer 2012 (the first being the awesome 9398 Rock Crawler we featured earlier in the week). As you can see from the grainy image to the left, this large rescue helicopter includes a few new pieces and some slightly ‘older’ building techniques we thought had been phased out.

Technical functions are controlled through a single input; we can reveal that 9396 uses a gearbox (as on the 2011 Technic Unimog and almost all Lego’s ‘Supercars’) to vary the output, which includes a working winch, retractible landing gear, opening ramp and simultaneously turning main and tail rotors.

To allow the price to be below the flagship models in Lego’s 2012 range the set will not come with Power Functions motors, however  it is designed to easily accept them as an add-on. We can also assume the main rotor is fully controllable from the cabin as a swash plate is visible.

9396 should reach us towards the end of summer. The Technic renaissance continues!

Lego Technic 9398 Rock Crawler Preview

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Lego Technic 9398

Lego Technic 9398

The Lego Car Blog Elves have been spying, and can shed some further light on Lego’s largest known Technic release of 2012; 9398 Rock Crawler.

Since the release of Power Functions a few years ago, Lego fans have been making use of the IR parts to add remote control functions to their creations. We’ve featured many such models here in the blog, and it seems Lego would like a slice of this pie too, taking inspiration from both the Truck Trial scene and RC vehicles posted online.

9398 is the first remote control wheeled vehicle from Technic, using Power Functions for 4×4 drive and 4-wheel steering. It also features the portal axels debuted on the 2011 Technic Unimog, pendular suspension and host of new pieces previously unseen.

With a release date of Q3 2012 we have a while to wait before we can get our hands on it, but from what we’ve seen so far, this could be the new Technic flagship.

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